Direct mail articles requiring no outer wrapper or envelope must be produced on card stock of a weight that is sufficient to meet postal service requirements. For example, postal cards of various sizes, including picture postcards and cards containing printed advertising and solicitations have been produced on card stock meeting postal service requirements for mailing without an outer wrapper or envelope.
Magazine covers prepared from such card stock have been printed and perforated with separable return cards or other forms of reply devices for use by the recipient of the magazine. Of course, removal of the reply device damages the cover and reduces the archival value and utility of the publication. Solicitations and printed promotional literature has been printed on conventional paper, and double or extra thickness panels produced by folding and gluing two or more layers into superposed position, and thereafter cutting and/or perforating appropriate margins to provide a separable reply device in the nature of a postcard. The sheet or web containing the extra thickness panel must then be inserted, or itself formed into an envelope for mailing to the recipient.
In order to improve the favorable response rate from direct mail advertising and commercial solicitations, it is desirable to include a personalized reply device containing the original addressee's name and address, as well as encoded information, on a form that permits selection and confirmation of merchandise or services to be ordered, or for identification of contributors in the case of charitable solicitations. The reply device can take the form of a prepaid business reply postcard. Where a check or other payment order is to be returned with the reply device, it is desirable to also provide a postage prepaid and addressed return envelope that can be sealed by the original recipient.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a direct mail article in the form of a large or oversized card that is adapted to receive printed fields on one or both sides and an integral preformed reply envelope and reply device, all of which can be self-mailed without a separate outer wrapper or envelope.
It is another object of this invention to provide a direct mail article produced on heavy card stock that can be mailed without an outer wrapper or envelope, and that is in the form of a large card approximating the size and appearance of a magazine cover, along with an integral preformed business reply envelope and integral reply device, all of which can be easily separated by the recipient into three individual pieces.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a direct mail article that can be pre-printed and personalized in a plurality of positions while in the form of a continuous web or sheet and thereafter die-cut and folded into a resultant self-mailable card and readily separable preformed envelope and separable reply device that are temporarily secured in a superposed relation on the card for transmission through the mails to the recipient.
Another object of the invention is to provide a large printable card, approximating the size of a book or magazine cover, to which are separably attached one or more reply devices and one or more printable panels or sections for receiving advertising or informational copy, folded and assembled into a unit that can be mailed without an outer wrapper or cover.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide methods for economically producing a self-mailer in the form of a large or oversized card and integral therewith, one or more reply devices, and optionally, a reply envelope for use by the recipient, from a preprinted web or sheet that can be personalized in one or more fields on the self-mailer.